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Speaker Portal

Everything you need to be a successful speaker at SDxE

What are we looking for in a speaker?

SDxE is not a “pay to play” event. The speaking faculty and conference sessions are selected based solely on the topic/content submitted and the speaker’s qualifications by the advisory board and our research and editorial team.

Note that a speaker with a marketing or sales title will be immediately suspect. We are looking for speakers who are technical or have Line-of-Business expertise, and will prioritize submissions from IT professionals.

Contact information for the primary speaker must be included. As part of our vetting process, we will need to follow up directly with the speaker on the submission and/or their background and expertise. Submissions without speaker contact information will not be considered.

Before submitting your proposal...

Deadline: We are accepting sessions on a rolling basis, meaning that we will review and accept sessions as we receive them.

Submission Criteria

Is the submitted speaker considered a thought leader and/or is knowledgeable on the topic? Can the speaker go beyond the surface of a topic and provide in-depth education?

Is the submitted topic unique / fresh? Information that cannot be found in another conference or format? (In other words, please do not submit the same session you have already presented at another conference without substantial updates.)

Is this session a real-world case study? If submitted by a vendor, does it include the customer as a speaker?

Is this session based simply on theory or contain actionable, practical information that attendees can put in practice?

Is it controversial? Our goal is to provide a forum where attendees can learn about cutting edge topics and get advice and straight talk on the current controversies in enterprise IT.

Panel discussions: Do they include end users/customers?

Is the submission relevant to our audience? Does it address a problem or opportunity IT pros are grappling with.

Technically solid. Is the content technical and deep enough? Does it go beyond a high-level overview.

Business-focused. For our software-defined business submissions, does the talk connect business goals with technology needs.

Absolutely no marketing/product pitches.

Session Types

Conference Sessions (1-2 speakers)

Keynotes

Panel Presentations

Workshops (half-day or full-day hands-on and/or interactive sessions)

Speaker Expectations

You commit to presenting at SDxE, and will not change speakers at the last moment. If you are unable to attend, you will notify us in writing and suggest a suitable, alternate speaker. Note that the acceptance of the speaker will be determined by the criteria above.

Promote the event and your participation through social media and your organization’s marketing efforts. Being active online to promote your participation raises your public profile, along with driving attendance to your sessions and the events, and makes it more likely you will be asked to return.

Work with our content marketing team to promote your session by participating in at least one content marketing campaign: speaker interviews, blog post, webinar, video, social media post.

Meet all speaker deadlines set forth by our operations and conference teams.